Telling You Again Won’t Help

From today’s reading…

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

‘How long are you going to keep us in suspense?

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’

Jesus answered them, ‘I told you and you do not believe.’” John 10:24-25

The first thing that popped into my (crazy) when I read this today was the line “I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you” made famous by Tom Cruise in “Top Gun,” among many others.

But in today’s reading, it’s essentially reversed, “If I don’t tell you, you’ll die for eternity.”

Or even worse, “I’ve told you and your closed mind, hard heart, and stiff neck will keep you from believing, which will kill you.”

So Wes, are you saying we should just believe everything we hear from anyone who says they were sent by God?”

No, but you do need to set your ego aside long enough to hear what they have to say to discern if what they are saying is good and true.

In today’s first reading from Acts 11 we see Barnabas and Saul being sent to teach and they stayed in Antioch for an entire year doing so.

Barnabas and Saul were sent on the authority of Peter and the entire 12, which was restored to 12 in the first chapter of Acts, thereby establishing the Apostolic succession, but I digress.

The lessons and the wisdom are made readily available to you. Choosing to listen, learn, and love as Jesus instructed us to do is the only way to…

Stay the course. Keep the faith. Endure.

Now go sell something.

P.S. Enjoy this video montage of “I could tell you but I’d have to kill you.”